Post Script
January 2002 Volume 12, Number 1
Issued quarterly by the
Friends of the New York State
Newspaper Project
Dunkirk Observer-Journal (June 4, 1888)
The phonograph (says the N. Y. Mechanical News) has been brought to practical completion, has been exhibited to a large number of discriminating spectators in this city, and is undoubtedly a scientific success. The question is, will it be a commercial success? There is a gulf fixed, as it appears in some cases, between an entire and un-qualified triumph in the perfecting of an invention so that it will accomplish all that is claimed for it in the laboratory or under the hands of its originator, and that sort of practical adaptation of it to the conditions of every day work or busness which enables the public to take hold of it and use it with economy and convenience. Other things beside the phonograph-electric traction, for instance, and even, for some purposes, the electric light-are pausing at this trouble- some interval, and much toil and trial will have been undergone before it is satisfactorily bridged. We trust that the phonograph will not encounter this sort of difficulty. Its use and value, if it can be made generally available, are great beyond present realization or pre-diction.
More Recent News
(November) Dan McShane returned to the Brooklyn Public Library offsite storage facility to retrieve more of the Kings County newspapers from the Brooklyn Collection.
Bob Dowd traveled to Oswego County to retrieve newspapers for microfilming that otherwise were to be disposed of by the Oswego Public Library. Supplemental issues of some titles were also obtained at the SUNY Oswego library on this trip.
Lesli Larson, Oregon Newspaper Project Microfilming Unit Supervisor, spent a day with Dan and the preservation staff.
Colleen Lougen assembled a sampling of newspapers for a "Veteran's Day" exhibit at the Guilderland Public Library featuring the World War I armistice, but also including newspaper coverage of US armed action during the Revolution, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish/American War, World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam Conflicts.
(December) Following the appreciated cooperation with the Guilderland Public Library last month, this month we loaned two copies of the Jan. 4, 1800 'Ulster County Gazette' from Kingston reporting on George Washington's funeral, which were included among items on exhibit marking the 200th anniversary of his death.
We arranged for the Connecticut Newspaper Project at the Connecticut State Library to borrow 15 issues of 'The Norwich Spectator' for preservation microfilming. Laura Moulton drove to Albany to retrieve these newspapers from the collection of the New York State Library, and to observe Newspaper Project methods, especially involving preservation.
(January) This month we prepped and shipped our 2,000,000th newspaper page. The first pages filmed by this Project were queued in November 1991. Our millionth page was filmed 64 months later in February 1997. Only 35 months after that, we have doubled our production. This increased pace of work has allowed for extraordinary attention to New York State's smaller communities. Drawing praise from curators, libraries, and researchers, we are preserving New York's newspaper history and making it available. We are quite happy with the results of our effort.
Current Statistics
14,572 newspapers cataloged;
8,630 of these published in N.Y. State
2,085,932 pages microfilmed (3/31)